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India

First view of life in Bombay

Greetings from India!

Our pictures will give you a solid idea
of the sensory onslaught we have experienced these past two weeks -
WOW!

The
beginning… Our flights were fine, though we almost missed the connecting
flight in Houston. We flew over some pretty crazy territory to get
here: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran… Nothing going on up in the air, but
we sure thought about the turmoil down below. The Mumbai airport
was well organized and everyone got luggage except for us. We didn’t
expect it, anyway, as our flight to Houston was so close. All 16
bags arrived the next day and airport customs delivered them right to school,
who in turn delivered them right to us.

Which brings me to the first ‘adjustment’
to life in India: Everyone else does the thing you are ‘supposed’
to do. Get the luggage? They deliver it. Out of water
bottles? They deliver some. Need a dozen eggs or a cup
of sugar? They deliver it. Run out of cold beer at your party?
They deliver it. It is amazing. The fifth appendage here is
the cell phone and they are used well. One call and the world is
delivered to your doorstep. Dangerous convenience? The phrase
‘I need to go run a few errands’ does not exist here for us. And
as Westerners who make a lot of money, we are expected to let others do
the work so the delivery folks can earn an income.

We
arrived at our new home at 1:30 in the morning. The kids were awake
enough to pick out their bedrooms and unpack their backpacks and play for
a bit. The whole place stunk of mold and mildew, but a de-humidifier
was running full blast. Although the furniture still smells, everything
else has been cleared out by A/C and the de-humidifier. We keep them
running 24/7.

It is monsoon here and it pours everyday.
We have been caught in a few downpours and it hurts when it beats on your
skin. Umbrellas are ineffectual as they collapse under the weight
of the deluge. When the rain starts, people just go into a building
and sit and wait it out. Rumor has it this season lasts until mid-September.
After that, it doesn’t rain again until next May. Indians here are
very Zen about the whole thing: We welcome the rain as rain. We
need the rain to fill the reservoirs so Mumbai can drink during the dry
season. We welcome the rain. Ah, to be so accepting of
all the short term inconveniences in recognition of the long term and greater
good. The damp mold is everywhere – the rings of it and the
stink of it and the slime of it. But no bugs! We had a worm
crawl out of a plant we got, but that is the extent of the entomological
scenery.

Our
home is in the Kiara Apartments. It is 7 floors and we are on the
6th. Every floor but one is occupied by an ASB (American School Bombay)
family. We have had a tremendous amount of support and guidance and help
from all the returning teachers and families. The top floor is open
and tiled, so we go up there to run around.

We overlook the Arabian Sea to the west,
downtown Bombay to the south and vast development every other direction.
We are fortunate to have an all-girls school right next door, so there
is a large green area out our windows. Another pleasant adjustment:
greenery! I was expecting huge Bombay to be devoid of trees and growth.
Pressing humanity was all I thought would be here, with homeless people
cutting down everything for fuel and/or building material. Not so!
It is very lush and very green. We have what must be a runner up
for Miss Tallest Palm Tree growing right out Alea’s window. There
are lots of signs around town, too: Green Bombay, Healthy Bombay
– Plant a Tree!! Signs forbidding illegal construction (slumming)
adorn the trees and it seems that is enforced (at least in our area).

But
there are slums and poverty. Not as bad I thought, though.
We drove through the world’s largest slum our first day here – on our way
downtown to register with the Indian Police (National Geographic did an
article about it in May). Actually, we had driven through it and
then someone said what it was. I was surprised because it wasn’t
the image of slum I had: dead and starving bodies and rotting carrion etc.
It was bad – don’t get me wrong – but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
There were naked kids (except for gold bracelets around the ankles or chili
peppers around the waist) and young girls, clearly too young to be moms,
hauling more naked kids around.

The piles of garbage were horrific; we
saw a woman wash clothes on the stone floor of her house, ring them out
and put them out to dry on mounds of garbage that were compressed and stable
enough to serve as tables. But the kids have food. Rice and
veggies and fruits and whatever they use that is like wheat are crazily
inexpensive. That is some small solace to me as I look at the lifestyle
they lead. And the (supposed) future they have.

The
cost of living has been an unpleasant surprise. We were used to reasonable
prices for food in Serbia, but the cost of goods in general was also realistic
there: 50 cents for a plastic bowl, 20 bucks for a coffee pot, 5,000
bucks for a car. Staggering is about the only way to describe
how expensive non-food stuff is here. A box of pancake mix is $7, small
plastic bins run $2 each, the Black and Decker coffee pot we bought today
was $60!!!! New teachers have been forking out $15 – 20K for cars!!
I’ll pay that it in the US where the roads are decent and the car won’t
mold over in three days, but not here! Everyone has a driver, too.
No one – absolutely no one drives here him or herself. One guy got
a motorcycle, but he only rides it in the early morning for fear of his
life. The thing about driving is not that it is on the left – we
got accustomed to that in Pakistan. It is the quantity of traffic.
It is the most difficult past of life here for me. We spend hours
sitting in traffic because there is just so much of it.

And it is odd – Bombay is a very late city.
We thought such a hot climate would mean early mornings and late nights
and mid day siesta. But this is not the case. They stay up
super late and get up super late and run right through the hottest part
of the day. So the van ride to school in the morning is about
15 minutes because there are few other vehicles on the roads at 7:00 am.
However, the ride home at 4:10 takes almost an hour (with luck).
You all know how terribly I handle traffic; I’d rather donate a kidney
than sit in it. Dave finds it utterly amusing to find me captive
here. It drives me crazy! My humidity frayed brillo pad hair
stands straight up in outrage as we sit and go nowhere with a gazillion
people honking in inertia. We’ve seen lots of police barricades –
but no police – trying to control the traffic. It will be the most
challenging part of living here, I can tell right away.

The school is under huge construction as
it expands, so that has been fun to watch. Dave and I were lucky
and had rooms that were done, so we have been able to set up. ¾
of the other teachers haven’t been able to – and new student orientation
is tomorrow! Breck’s teacher will be Celine Kline, a Filipina/American
whose husband works at the US consulate. Alea’s teacher will be Kevin
Krems, an Anglo/American from Idaho. They seem like good people.
Breck wanted a male teacher and Alea wanted a female, so that got all mixed
up – but it will be a good year because we will make it so. 2 of
the 3 4th grade teachers are men, so I will request that for Breck next
year. My colleagues are wonderful. Kay is from Ohio and is the MS
Principal’s wife. She has taught in Japan and Taiwan. Agnes Franklin
is from the States, too, and has taught in Saudi, Indonesia, Malaysia and
France. She is a Buddhist and does the Yoga meditating thing.
She is very calm and peaceful with a quiet center; she will be good balance
for me as I work my way through this first year.

The
kids are doing well. They have connected with some others in the
building, so that has made a huge difference. We have a small pool at the
apartment, and a weight room, so we bounce around in there. They’ll
meet some more friends when school starts. They say they aren’t quite
ready, but I think that will change after tomorrow. They are slow
to warm with the food – no surprise there – but we are working on it.
All the grocery places and restaurants deliver, so that makes it easy.

We hired a housekeeper, Stella, who started
last week. I think we must have a good luck housekeeper charm in
the family, because she is as fabulous as Connie. She likes the kids and
they are good with her, so that makes it easy for me. She does all
the marketing and shopping, too, so that is a HUGE relief for me as I would
truly lose my mind if I had to sit in a rickshaw in traffic at the end
of the day to go shopping. There is a little deli place called
Candies at the end of our road – they have great Indian and other take-out.
I know – after only two weeks here – that it will become a very important
part of our lives? There is a little market, too, for milk and juice
and bread. And I can walk there – yeah!

We have spread pictures out randomly in
this letter, but know Dave will get the others up on-line soon. Carla,
we’ll have to let you know about a skype date. It will have to wait until
we get internet at home. Jennifer, I am so glad I packed your
green squash-em Tupperware. Stella makes perfect portion sizes of
daal and other Indian food for Dave and keeps it in there; perfect!
Mom, the kids have not had a chance to Webkinz because we still don’t have
internet at home. We are doing all our emailing from school.
We have submitted papers in triplicate for every service imaginable and
they mysteriously disappear until a few days later - Voila! – with
no notice some guy shows up at your door with cable, cell phone, TV, vent
repair, etc… So when the internet guy shows up is anyone’s guess.
Except the garbage service – that is a guy who lives in the basement of
the apartment. Every family pays him 150 rupees a month ($3.75) and he
picks up our garbage and recycling every day. We just set it right
outside our door in the hallway. Bill, I hope you enjoy this
missive. I thought about you as I was writing. We had a full
2 days of inservice on 6 traits writing: Guiding our students as they become
effective, purposeful and enthusiastic writers. You would have appreciated
it!

Much love to one and all. We miss
you terribly. We have pictures of everyone up on the fridge, but
we’d love the new one of all of us in the back yard if it could be mailed
or scanned and emailed. Hugs and we’ll be in touch – Suz.

Alea’s
turn: Hi! So far India is great. It’s really really hot
and humid. Mom’s hair looks like cotton candy – only brown.
The smells of India are really strange. You often smell fish and
garbage everywhere. I don’t really like it. Neither does Mom.
We just got some plants and I have two in my room. One tree is like
a pine tree and the other is on my dresser. One tree that is out
on the patio is a lime tree. I’ve never tried a lime. But maybe
I will. Navy Macaws have been coming to the patio door out
of my room. Yesterday Dad put bread and pomegranates out and the
macaws ate it all.

Breck’s turn: Hi. I think India
is great. It kinda looks like the book Grandma reads to us.
It is called Brothers. It’s like Chinatown here because there are
lots of people who have dark skin and shaggy houses. Today we went for
a walk and I was really exhausted. But I found something to focus
me up; it was a sewing machine. I was using it by pedaling the thing
on the floor to make the needle go up and down. I wish you could
come here.